Being sultan did not give him immunity from plague, of course, but it did make him less vulnerable than most other humans. The simplest strategy to protect oneself from the disease—running away from it—was the most effective. So Selim and his retinue fled plague-stricken Istanbul for the former imperial capital of Edirne. Although he could not have known it, this would be the last time he stepped on Istanbul’s cobblestones or laid his eyes on the Bosphorus.
